Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.N. agencies: 117 million children may miss measles shots due to COVID-19

More than 117 million children could miss out on immunization against measles as the COVID-19 pandemic forces social distancing and piles pressure on health services, United Nations health agencies warned on Tuesday. Measles immunization campaigns in 24 countries have already been delayed, and more will be postponed, potentially putting children in 37 countries at risk, according to the Measles & Rubella Initiative (M&RI), which is backed by the World Health Organization, the U.N. children's fund UNICEF and others. U.S. coronavirus outbreak could peak this week, CDC director says

The coronavirus outbreak could reach its peak in the United States this week, a top U.S. health official said on Monday, pointing to signs of stabilization across the country. The United States, with the world's third-largest population, has recorded more fatalities from COVID-19 than any other country, more than 22,000 as of Monday morning according to a Reuters tally. Germany's coronavirus cases rise by 2,082, deaths by 170: RKI

Germany's number of confirmed coronavirus infections has risen by 2,082 to 125,098, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday, marking the fourth decline in the number of new cases after four days of increases. The reported death toll has risen by 170 to 2,969. U.S. sailor from coronavirus-hit aircraft carrier dies after contracting virus

A U.S. Navy sailor died on Monday after contracting the coronavirus aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, whose captain was fired after warning his crew would die unnecessarily unless strong action was taken. The sailor, the first active-duty U.S. servicemember to die from coronavirus complications, was admitted to intensive care on April 9 after being found unresponsive in his quarters. The sailor had tested positive exactly two weeks ago on March 30, the Navy said. U.S. appeals court blocks Texas curbs on medication abortion

A U.S. appeals court on Monday blocked Texas from enforcing curbs on medication-induced abortions as part of the Republican-governed state's restrictions aimed at postponing medical procedures not deemed urgent during the coronavirus pandemic. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a federal judge's decision blocking the state from applying restrictions to abortions induced through medication to go into effect. China's Guangzhou city says 111 Africans tested positive for coronavirus

A total of 111 Africans in China's southern city of Guangzhou had tested positive for the novel coronavirus as of Monday, the Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday. Among them, 19 were imported cases, Xinhua quoted Chen Zhiying, executive vice mayor of Guangzhou, as saying. WHO chief says confident U.S. funding will continue in COVID fight

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) voiced confidence on Monday that the United States would continue funding his U.N. agency, despite President Donald Trump's criticism of WHO's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that the Trump administration was re-evaluating U.S. funding to the body, saying international organisations utilising U.S. taxpayer money needed to deliver on their goals. China approves two experimental coronavirus vaccines to enter clinical trials

China has approved early-stage human tests for two experimental vaccines to combat the new coronavirus that killed over 100,000 people worldwide, state media Xinhua reported on Tuesday. The vaccines are being developed by a Beijing-based unit of Nasdaq-listed Sinovac Biotech, and by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, an affiliate of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group. Getting a coronavirus test in Wuhan: fast, cheap and easy

Coronavirus tests can be difficult to come by in many countries including in hard-hit parts of the United States and Britain, but in Wuhan, the Chinese epicentre of the pandemic, they are fast, cheap and easy to get. My colleagues and I had just arrived in the central city where the novel coronavirus emerged in humans late last year, and as a foreigner I was told that I was required to take a nucleic test to prove that I was free of the potentially deadly flu-like virus. China tightens Russian border checks, approves experimental coronavirus vaccine trials

China has approved early-stage human tests for two experimental vaccines to combat the new coronavirus as it battles to contain imported cases, especially from neighbouring Russia, the new "front line" in the war on COVID-19. Russia has become China's largest source of imported cases, with a total of 409 infections originating in the country, and Chinese citizens should stay put and not return home, the state-owned Global Times said in an editorial.